Your Input Needed: January 28, 2022
Article II Study Commission Requests YOUR Input by April 30, 2022
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has commissioned a study of Article II of the UUA Bylaws. Article II is comprised of our Principles and Purposes and is the foundation for the work of our Unitarian Universalist (UU) movement. It encompasses the covenant to which all of our UU congregations and UU covenanted communities pledge themselves when they become members of our UUA.
The Article II Study Commission welcomes input from individual Unitarian Universalists to inform the reimagining of Article II of the UUA Bylaws. The Commission has identified four areas of inquiry: Shared Values, Inspirations, Purpose, and Covenant. Click the “Article II Individual Survey” button below to answer questions in each of these areas. Toward the end of the survey, there are questions to collect demographic information. Lastly, you will have an opportunity to share any other input you’d like as well as ask any follow-up questions you have for the Commission.
We encourage you to click on the “Article II Materials” button below to engage with some of the many events, workshops, small groups, classes, and materials offered by the Commission before you take the survey to allow yourself time and space to think deeply about the questions before completing the survey. This survey will remain open until April 30, 2022.
Our current Principles and Purposes as listed in Article II of the UUA Bylaws were last revised in 1987. At General Assembly (GA) 2017, there was discussion of amending the Principles to add the 8th Principle, addressing racism, and an amended 1st Principle, addressing non-human life. The 5th Principle was the subject of a report in 2009, which dealt with the ways in which GA and other UU gatherings do and don’t embody an inclusive democratic process. The 7th Principle has also been the subject of discussions about possible amendments. In response to those discussions, in 2020 the UUA Board established an Article II Study Commission to conduct a review and consider revisions to Article II of the UUA Bylaws.